After almost nine hours of discussion and testimony, members of the Board of Supervisors finally prepared to vote on whether Ross Mirkarimi should be removed as sheriff at 9:00 last night. Under current Board rules, Supervisor Jane Kim casts the first vote.

Concluding that “I think it wasn’t shown that when the sheriff grabbed his wife that he used the power of his office to commit violence against her,” Kim voted against removal.

With the votes of progressive Supervisors David Campos and John Avalos in the bag, and with embattled District 5 Supervisor Christina Olague off the hook, no longer having to cast the decisive vote, the other left-leaning Supervisors up for reelection in November abandoned their former colleague and voted for his removal. The motion to strip Mirkarimi of his job lost by a vote of 7-4.

Mayor Ed Lee needed at least nine votes to make his removal of Mirkarimi permanent. Both Olague and Kim have established themselves as close allies of the Mayor, while Avalos and Campos have retained a more contentious relationship with him. In a statement following the vote, the Mayor said that he disagreed with the vote by the four board members.

“The facts clearly demonstrate that Ross Mirkarimi’s actions and his domestic violence-related conviction falls below the ethical conduct we expect of our elected Sheriff and constitutes official misconduct,” Lee said. “The Board’s decision returns a convicted domestic batterer to lead the Sheriff’s Office.”

For those of you who voted against removal of the beast Mirkarimi, shame on you. You claim it was politics? Tell that to the abused women of San Francisco. This travesty sets a tone for our city. Throw the bum out. Why are you beholding to him? This should not be about politics. It needs to be about whats right. Mirkarimi wants to hide behind politics because he is dishonest about his violence and accepting his guilt. In no way, at no time would he ever be elected to be the head Sheriff of a city with this conviction of false imprisonment on his record.